Senior commissioning editor Jessica Leeke bought UK and Commonwealth rights to debut The Dynamite Room and a second novel from Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit, making the offer overnight. S&S will publish in 2014 as a superlead title.

The book is set in Suffolk in July 1940, and tells the story of 12-year-old Lydia who is held captive in her own home by a German soldier.

Leeke said: "This is the novel I have been looking for and we're all extremely excited. Jason has conjured up a young girl so clearly on the cusp of adulthood and a war story with all the appeal of a timeless classic, in his own utterly unique, original and creative way."